Deep Voice, Deep Throat

David Weigel | July 5, 2007

Michael Kranish snagged a copy of Fred Thompson's Watergate memoir (now priced at $200 - and published by The New York Times Book Company!) and discovered some holes in Thompson's current, heroic memory of his gig as a minority counsel.

Thompson tipped off the White House that the committee knew about the taping system and would be making the information public. In his all-but-forgotten Watergate memoir, "At That Point in Time," Thompson said he acted with "no authority" in divulging the committee's knowledge of the tapes, which provided the evidence that led to Nixon's resignation. It was one of many Thompson leaks to the Nixon team, according to a former investigator for Democrats on the committee, Scott Armstrong, who remains upset at Thompson's actions.

"Thompson was a mole for the White House," Armstrong said in an interview. "Fred was working hammer and tong to defeat the investigation of finding out what happened to authorize Watergate and find out what the role of the president was."

Kranish's reporting portrays Thompson as a weasel and a glory hound. After the WH's taping system was divulged in private testimony Thompson told the Nixonites about the discovery, then got to ask Alexander Butterfield about the tapes on live TV.

The story's a little light on Thompson pushback, but don't blame Kranish. When he asked for comment, Thompson loosened his belt and unleashed a thundering, Havana-scented belch:

Asked about the matter this week, Thompson -- who is preparing to run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination -- responded via e-mail without addressing the specific charge of being a Nixon mole: "I'm glad all of this has finally caused someone to read my Watergate book, even though it's taken them over thirty years."

Unsurprising. Thompson's strategy is all about talking past the media to the Republican establishment, for whom being a towering presidential sycophant -- he stuck up for Nixon and Scooter! -- is no bad thing.

Comments

|7.5.07 @ 1:52PM|#

Wow, look at all that hair!

What I want to know is, how much of the vote will Thompson get from name recognition? People my age and younger aren't old enough to remember Watergate. I suspect many of us here at the tail end of Gen X - and whatever we're calling the Damned Kids Today (get off my lawn!) - will know him from anything other than Law & Order.

What are polls saying about Thompson's numbers among the 18-35 set?

/I won't vote for him
//Now Ben Stone on the other hand...

Wait, what?

|7.5.07 @ 1:57PM|#

won't know him...

Preview, Bronwyn. Preview.

|7.5.07 @ 2:02PM|#

Deep Voice, Deep Throat

OOOOOOoooooooo, a Gay Pr0n ref!

|7.5.07 @ 2:12PM|#

Hey, Whats Bill Hicks doing in a suit talking to those Watergate dudes?

|7.5.07 @ 2:13PM|#

So he was Nixon's mole on the Watergate committee?

Yet on his website he's promoting the fact that he asked the question that blew open Watergate.

I guess he is just an actor.

|7.5.07 @ 2:14PM|#

Who's the guy on the left with all that hair?

And is it just me, or were Fred Thompson and Joe Don Baker separated at birth?

ed|7.5.07 @ 2:16PM|#

many of us here at the tail end of Gen X - and whatever we're calling the Damned Kids Today

You're close.

|7.5.07 @ 2:30PM|#

Is that a picture from Watergate, or a still from CHiPs?

crap-action-jackson|7.5.07 @ 2:36PM|#

MITCHELL!

|7.5.07 @ 3:26PM|#

What did Thompson know, and when did he tell the president?

DONDEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!|7.5.07 @ 3:53PM|#

Clearly Thompson is the second most libertarian candidate after Rudy! Nixon was trying to protect us from the Russians by spying on dangerous subversive opposition candidates, just like Rudy will protect us from illiterate cave dwellers by reading our mail! GO RUDY!

The Wine Commonsewer®|7.5.07 @ 3:55PM|#

...and whatever we're calling the Damned Kids Today (get off my lawn!)......

LOL.

Off camera voice over: Daisy Air Rifles: Keeping kids off your lawn for five generations.

Rhywun|7.5.07 @ 4:36PM|#

know him from anything other than Law & Order

Not only am I too young to remember Watergate, but when I stopped watching Law & Order that other crotchety old guy was still the boss. Thus, this Fred Thompson dude's magical powers of TV stardom won't work on me.

Rhywun|7.5.07 @ 4:37PM|#

Is that a picture from Watergate, or a still from CHiPs?

Or Hunter...?

|7.5.07 @ 4:39PM|#

crap-action-jackson, nice pull!

"Mitchell" still haunts me to this day.

|7.5.07 @ 4:59PM|#

"Nixon's enemies don't take a dump without a plan."

|7.5.07 @ 5:04PM|#

Wait a minute, a Republican who tried to cover up crimes, ignored the balance of powers between two branches of government, and leaked classified information to win an political fight?

Yeah, sure Dave. Tell me another one.

The Owner\'s Manual|7.5.07 @ 7:13PM|#

As I recall from one of the Watergate books, when Butterfield was first queried about a taping system, "He broke out in assholes and shit himself to death."